Griffin awoke an hour before dawn, habit pulling him awake. He felt a moment of bemused fear that he was late for the farm hands’ morning meeting, and then the feel of satiny covers under his hands brought him back to the truth. He was not a farm hand anymore.

His heart was racing from the shock of waking late, and he quickly judged that he would not be able to get to sleep again now. He lay in the dark, staring up at a ceiling that he could not see, wondering for a while how life was continuing at the Breckenridge estate. He imagined Cornmouse piping up with his cheery morning comments, bouncing off the stoic Marten, who hated conversation in the mornings and would glare at him all the way to the fields. He thought of the rough shove he would habitually receive by way of greeting from Jed. Griffin had never liked Jed; ever since it had become clear to the other farm hands that he was sneaking off during his breaks to meet with Ilona – even before, when she was only teaching him things instead of kissing him – Jed had become unbearable, trying his hardest to get one over on him at every possible moment.

Griffin did not like thinking of Ilona, and he quickly swung his legs out of bed, needing to do something that took his thoughts elsewhere.

It was not cold in the room, though winter was in full force now and the sun had not risen to lend what feeble heat it could muster to the day. Griffin could not remember a single occasion on which he had not woken up cold during these months, and the wonder of it was enough to distract him for a moment as he tried to work out what could be keeping it this temperature. There was no fire in the room, after all. An inspection of the window demonstrated that it was well sealed, with no gaps for cold air to make its way in from the inside, and the glass was thick. He marvelled over the construction for a while, until his attention turned to the view itself.

There were a few lights out in the street beyond the elaborate iron gates, and their light spilled from the pathway and over into the courtyard. He had never seen such extravagance during the early hours – at Breckenridge they had always had to get along with a candle or two until the dawn, and even the family were only accustomed to lighting a few rooms in the evening by firelight or lamps. But to have such large lamps in the street, able to spread light over such a distance, when the streets were not even populated! This must be something of the luxury he had heard of the city, where money was no object and even servants dressed finely – servants like himself, he remembered, turning back from the window to the dresser and the clothes it held. By the dim light coming in through the curtains he laid them out one by one, dressing himself slowly and carefully to take up the time before he was required to carry out his duties.

He had been sitting, fully dressed, staring out of the window at nothing but the empty street for around twenty minutes by the time there was at last a soft knock at his door, and Jackdaw stole in just as the first rays of dawn were coming above the horizon. Outside, someone was driving a horse and carriage down the centre of the road and extinguishing the lamps one by one, but Griffin turned to face his fellow servant instead.

‘Ah, you’re awake already,’ Jackdaw said quietly, smiling in approval and setting the candle he was carrying down on top of the dresser. With a glance outside at the gathering light he blew it out, expunging the strange yellow light that had played around his features for a moment and crossing to stand by the window with him. ‘It is time we had our briefing, at last.’

Griffin nodded silently, assuming a focused expression as he waited to hear about his new duties. He wanted to make a good impression and put himself to work as well as he could, even if it was only in front of a fellow servant. It was clear to him already that Jackdaw had superiority here, and he knew that staying in with your betters was always a good idea.

‘To explain your duties... well, first of all, there is serving meals when the master has guests. I’ll start to train you in the proper etiquette this afternoon, don’t worry about that for now. There might also be errands to run out in the city during the day, but you’ll start those when your collar is here and all the papers have gone through. There is cleaning, of course - between us we’ll split the duties. For now, you can focus on keeping the corridors clean and the kitchen while I do the rest of the house. That’s only a once-a-week thing for the most part, since the cook clears up general waste and there aren’t enough visitors here to muddy the halls much. Though it’s a big house we have here, there’s only one wing and the main building in use; the rest is in dust sheets on account of the Lord not needing the space, so that we can ignore until such time as he decides he wants it again. Then there’s... well, there’s the main part of your duties, the reason you were brought here.’

‘And what are they?’ Griffin prompted, when there was no further explanation forthcoming. Jackdaw’s mouth worked without noise for a few seconds, as he seemed indecisive as to how to begin his sentence, opening and closing until he finally settled on a phrasing and looked Griffin in the face again.

‘You’re a country boy, so I don’t know what kind of life you’ve led... I mean... you have been with a girl, haven’t you?’ The other servant asked, clasping his hands behind his back, clearly feeling a little awkward about having to ask.

Griffin swallowed back thoughts of Ilona and nodded. ‘Yes,’ he replied, pretending that he did not hear the edge in his own voice.

‘And have you...’ Jackdaw hesitated, and there was a flash of something almost like guilt on his face before he turned away to look out of the window again. ‘Have you ever been with a man?’

There was a moment’s pause, Griffin barely able to process such an outlandish question. A man? Impossible! It did not work that way! He frowned hard, his voice falling harsh and rough as he forgot to focus on the civilised manners and careful ways of speaking Ilona had taught him to uphold in polite company. ‘I ent ever heard of such a thing,’ he replied, distrusting suddenly the way that Jackdaw would not look at him.

‘You will,’ Jackdaw said distantly, and now that strangeness at the back of his tone had unmistakably solidified into regret as he rushed onwards. ‘I imagine he’ll need you only to pleasure him at first, since you’ve a simple and honest-looking face. Just imagine how you would like it, and I’m sure it will be easy to work out. There’s nothing complicated about the process, really. He’s not expecting you to be well-trained like the boys you can hire from -’

‘I won’t do it,’ Griffin broke in fiercely, stepping forward closer to Jackdaw, trying to see any hint that this was only a joke.

Jackdaw turned to face him then, and the carefree, instructive mask he had worn until now finally crumbled fully. ‘Griffin, I’m begging you,’ he said, gripping the other man by his shoulders as if to force him to listen. ‘Don’t struggle with him or refuse him completely. So many boys I’ve seen come and go here! Don’t make it so I have to dispose of you like those others, I can’t bear it anymore, I’m telling you! There’ll be no trace of you left in this world but your blood on my gloves – don’t make it so I have to get rid of you too!’

Griffin swallowed, staring into a pair of eyes stained with grief and knowing that what he said was meant from the heart. Still, he was unable to accept that all of these revelations could really be the truth, and he pushed Jackdaw’s hands from his shoulders unceremoniously. ‘I don’t believe you,’ he stated flatly, and turned stubbornly to fiddle with his cuffs and brush off imaginary marks from the arms of his jacket.

Jackdaw sighed, seeming almost deflated, defeated. ‘Either way, the Master will see you in his study as soon as the sun breaks the horizon completely. You will be able to judge the time from the windows in the rooms on the other side of the hall.’ He paused as if to say something else, opening his hand and stretching it out, then simply made a fist and rapped it gently on the windowsill before turning and striding out.

Griffin stayed in his room for a little while longer, pulling at the collar of his shirt and rubbing the still strange emptiness at his throat. Then came the inevitable realisation that he would have to follow orders and go to the study at the appointed time, or he would be punished no matter what happened. When he had been taken in during such circumstances and nursed to health, too, it would have been rude to not even make that much effort, so he went into the corridor and opened the door of the room opposite. It was furnished much in the same way that his was, and through a gap between two houses in the street over he could see that the sun was halfway over the line of the horizon already.

It occurred to him then that he did not know exactly where to find Lord Carridon’s study, and with a sigh of annoyance he realised that he had just turned away the only person that could have told him where to find it. Making up his mind that it was better to arrive early by accident than only go when it was almost time, he strode towards the end of the corridor and the stairs that would take him down to the next floor.

Rows of doors were all that greeted him on the left side when he emerged from the staircase, but the other side was an ornately carved wooden balcony that looked out over the entrance hall of the building. A fine black carpet spread out across the wooden floor and down a wide staircase that spilled towards the entrance, where grand tall windows allowed the light of the almost risen sun to illuminate the fine statues and furnishings of the hall. With no time to spend marvelling on these no doubt magnificently expensive pieces, Griffin rushed down the staircase and cast about him for another clue.

‘To your left,’ a voice intoned from above, and Griffin looked up to see Jackdaw retreating through one of the doors that joined onto the balcony. Though he was still loathe to accept help from him, he took the advice and went towards the most immediate door on the left of the staircase, pausing a moment to straighten his jacket and shirt sleeves again before knocking a little hesitantly on the door. His heart leapt into his throat, nerves rattling away at it. Surely, Jackdaw had only been joking? Trying to scare the new servant? Surely?